My Poker Face

AN-Alright, my first Firefly/Serenity fanfic. This takes place just before Heart of Gold (where they go to help out Inara's friend at the whorehouse) but it's also a little movieverse. Oh, and Jaynie's going to be just a bit OOC because, well, I love the man but I'm making him just a bit more…honorable. This is the first part of an at least three part story about Jayne getting drunk and marrying someone and then not knowing what to do, their feelings for each other, and the difficulties of figuring it all out when you're on Serenity. Tell me what you think.

"Sex. Muscles. Humor. Thuggery. Jayne."
-- Adam Baldwin, summarizing his character

"Well, I don't know." Sighed the pretty little blond at the bar of Maidenhead. "I guess Beaumonde isn't so different from Osiris. I'm still winning at poker aren't I?" She laughed with the rotund bartender before grabbing her drink and heading back to the cards. She only had enough left to buy another nights worth of food and lodging stored in 'savings' (her bra) so she needed to make some money tonight.

Madisyn swung past a large mirror to make sure she still looked presentable. Her father's voice rang through her memory as she rearranged her artfully messy waves; "They'll never suspect you. Just sidle up to the table all sweet and innocent, ask to be dealt in…bluffing is more than half the game pumpkin. Oh, you'll kill for sure! And then she'd learned a few tricks once daddy wasn't there anymore…

"Well," she took a breath and composed her features "here's to winning."

……….

"Jayne, I think you may start conjuring laying off the hooch" Mal tossed a disapproving look to his muscle.

"We ain't got no jobs lined up; I'm on vacation." The burly mercenary tossed back another shot with one hand while knocking the bar with the knuckles on his other.

"You're a lost cause." Mal murmured when the sixth shot came sliding down to Jayne. "Don't you be makin' no trouble for me tonight, you hear? I just want a nice relaxing break now that we've saved up enough to keep us afloatin'. We ship off come mornin'. 'Sides, Fanty and Mingo may have somethin' for us."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there won't I?" Jayne didn't wait for a response, just grabbed his next shot and headed over to a card game he'd seen start as he came in five minutes past. Not only did he feel like cheating some fool out of their coin, he's spied a nice little piece of trim pacing around the players and thought it'd be fun to lure her away from her Kai tze. A big man like Jayne was sure to attract her more than any of the yellow rodents dealt in already.

He swallowed his firewater as he drew up even. "You fellas need another player?"

"Their almost done with this hand." The blond he'd been eying looked at him sideways before lowering her gaze. "Then we can play."

Jayne could've said so many things to that, but he didn't want to scare her away just yet. So he cocked an eyebrow and said only; "Can't wait."

……..

The new guy was huge. She'd rarely seen men as big or as well muscled as the next poor sucker she was gonna take down. And damn if he wasn't awful attractive. In a…border planet kind of way.

Which to Madisyn, wasn't so bad. She'd been born and raised around the scholarly core planet types and wasn't into it. He was a bit scruffy. And she liked it. On him it worked.

"You fellas need another player?" He asked the assembled suckers.

She didn't want to stop her scan of her prey to answer him; didn't want him to get a big head, think he was that important, so she didn't. "Their almost done with this hand." Say it! No! Say It! Ok! She looked him in the eye from below her darkened lashes "Then we can play."

Was that an evil gleam in his eye? Why yes, I think it was. Jia you! Go Madisyn!

The giant's voice deepened and his chest swelled. "Can't wait."

Oh, this is gonna be fun!

It seemed to take forever for the Maidenhead's riffraff to finish their hand, but eventually Madisyn was seated across from the sexy beast and she had her hand laid out just like she wanted it. As luck would have it, she didn't even really need to bluff (or cheat). When the game goes this easy, something else has to be lurkin' in the shadows right?

"Now boys, I don't know how this keeps happenin'," She couldn't suppress her grin, this was the third hand in a row she'd won and she was looking at taking a few days off with the pile she was scoring. "But it appears that with a Royal Flush…" Groans echoed around the table but the men weren't turning too sour yet. Still, it's better to stop before they assume you're cheating and run you out like they did at the Hogswollow. "How could I win again?! Oh, are you boys letting me?" She mock chastised the group. They were the kind of men who seemed to like to demure to her, play at modesty. All accept the tall one. Jayne, he'd said his name was. It reminded her of an old song her father's father used to listen to about a man with a girls name; he'd had to grow up tough because of it.

Well, Jayne there certainly looks like he could handle anyone who teased him for it.

Yes, the man named Jayne was intriguing. While the other suckers pretended not to preen and fake down-play how much money they were throwing away, Jayne just stared her straight in the eye. He spoke plainly and had a self assured posture and a tilt to his head she would have called cocky if he weren't so densely muscled; plus it was clear by the way he held his body, that Jayne could handle himself in a fight.

His manner had unnerved her at first, his directness and his thinly veiled innuendoes made her blush. But the longer she spent at that table with him and the more she drank…Well, she hadn't really started off being too proper anyway had she?

I spent the entirety of my childhood being proper. She complained to herself. You only live once. And day-um. She looked the man up and down. I want to live!

……..

Jayne'd used all of his...charm on this little vixen. And he was pleased it appeared to be working. He'd lost count of how much he'd lost to her and how many hands they'd played. Hell, he'd even lost track of how much he'd drank, and it was starting to effect him. Maybe. A little.

But, Madisyn was shooting off replies to his, perhaps less civilized, remarks just as quickly as he blurted them out without thinking. She laughed at all his jokes. (And at some things that weren't jokes) And she'd had plenty opportunities to leave if she didn't want his company. And for some reason, he didn't mind that she beat him at poker, it was kinda hot.

Gotta think now Jayne. He coached himself. What's a pretty little chit like her gonna want?

"Well." He finished the dregs of his beer. "Since you've almost completely cleaned me out," he paused long enough to see if she was paying attention. Her eyebrows raised and she tilted her head. He gulped when a lock of honey blond hair slid down into the valley between her breasts. Her chest wasn't big by his standard. No, all of her was pretty tiny, but they looked mighty appetizing, and they were full enough to strain at the low cut top she was wearing. He rose to his feet and held out a hand like a proper gentlemanly sort of fella. "How 'bout you and I find ourselves some tasty vittles. Madisyn xiao jie" He didn't ask.

There was an instant of pure panic where he wasn't sure how she'd respond and it wasn't aided by the dizzy spell that came quickly when he stood. But his equilibrium balanced out and she did that shy look-down thing she did while a smile cracked over her face, and he knew she was sold. He puffed out his chest and gave her a half grin. "Come on Bao bei, let's get outta here."

An-Rough translations of the Chinese-Bao bei-darling, precious. Xiao jie-miss/little lady. Jia you-cheering someone on like 'Go –'. Kai tze-boyfriend, but kind of derogatory.

Well, thanks for reading. Like I said, I've a (really funny in my opinion) idea of where this will go. It involves blacking out and getting married as well as firefights so…review if you like it, or if I should change something. Whatever. I'd appreciate some feedback. I'm not sure if I'll finish it if I don't get any info from you guys :) Happy fanfic-ing!

Ceilidh